Chapter 1 – Of Headmasters and Letters

It was a perfectly normal, clear, English summer night. Everything was quiet except for a recurring droning sound like that of a truck sputtering to ignition. However, the source of the sound was not a truck but rather a person whose size was once compared to a truck by a rather angry peddler. These guttural sounds were only interrupted by some rather strange words like "toothbrush" and "Buckingham" – incomprehensible to anyone except Vernon Dursley.

Vernon Dursley was a happy man at this moment. He was standing in the driveway of a mammoth mansion that was almost five times the size of Buckingham palace. He was gleefully watching his nephew wash the tires of his new Aston Martin with the smallest toothbrush that could be found in the household. Vernon thought that the toothbrush was rather large and that he would have to make it a point to tell his butler to buy a much smaller one. He was waiting for his wife and son to come down for they were ready to leave for his son, Dudley's, knighting ceremony at the Buckingham Palace. Vernon was already knighted a couple of months ago and now it was only fitting that his son be bestowed the same honour. Alas, at this point, his pleasant thoughts were rather rudely interrupted as an ear-piercing scream suddenly rang through the air and caused the world around him to black out.

Thus, was Vernon Dursley rather rudely awakened to reality. He realized that he didn't like reality since he wasn't a knight, he didn't own an Aston Martin, and he didn't own a house five times larger than the Buckingham Palace. He was stripped of everything he rightfully deserved in less than a second. At this moment, Vernon Dursley was not a happy man.

"AAAAAAAH" came the shout from the second bedroom. Vernon marched down to the second bedroom and threw open the door in anger – he was furious at Harry for disturbing his pleasant dreams.

"What on earth is the matter with you boy? First night you come home and you start yelling at the top of your lungs. What are you trying to do wake up the entire neighbourhood!" yelled Vernon. "We have enough problems as it is without you drawing attention to yourself. You WILL do something about those dreams – either get someone from your lot to fix you up or you'll force me to do something about it. You better not do anything to attract attention while we're gone. You hear that boy!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon. I'll tell them to cast a silencing charm on my room every night" replied Harry meekly.

"Don't use those WORDS!" spat Vernon with disgust "Just do whatever the hell you guys do. I am going back to sleep now and don't you do anything that'll disturb my sleep again – I have a train to catch tomorrow."

"Yes, Uncle Vernon. Good night."

And Vernon slammed the door hard and returned to his room. He felt good yelling at the boy – serves him right for disturbing my wonderful dream. He sunk into his bed and dozed off again instantly. Ah, now where was I…

Since Harry came back from the train station, he was so completely drowned in grief at the death of Sirius. He sat in his room all the time since he didn't have the patience to deal with the Dursleys. He didn't even feel happy when they announced that they were going on vacation to France for 2 weeks. How could he possibly feel happy when he did to Sirius? That's it! Much more than sorrow at the loss of his godfather, he felt guilt – unending guilt. He blamed himself almost completely. Sure, everyone was telling him in letters that the only people to be blamed were Bellatrix and Voldemort. Yet, he wasn't satisfied.

Burying his head in his pillow he cried out loud in anguish "I don't need Voldemort to kill people I love I'll bring them to him!"

"Now, now Harry. You don't really think you can convince that many people to go to Voldemort, do you?" came a voice from the door.

Astonished, Harry quickly turned around with his wand drawn – ready to curse at the intruder. There, standing at the doorway was the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, as he watched Harry smiling sadly.

"Professor Dumbledore! What are you doing here?" asked Harry in a surprised tone.

"I just came to check on you Harry and talk to you," replied the old headmaster cautiously.

"Ah yes! Don't want anything to happen to the one and only weapon do we?" said Harry bitterly.

Dumbledore didn't seem the least bit perturbed since he had been expecting Harry to say this at some point.

"No, I came to see how you are dealing with everything that happened last year. I know that you are angry with me right now. However, let me just make a couple of things clear first." He waited a bit to see if Harry would say anything.

No response.

"Well, let me first sit down" He conjured himself nice comfortable armchair, cast some privacy wards, and began "I will tell you first that I have always respected you Harry. You have to know that. I never saw you as a weapon – do you really think I would have kept the prophecy from you if I did think of you like that? In fact, I was so fond of you that I didn't want you to handle the pressures of the prophecy by waiting to tell you about it. Now, I know that it was a mistake but hindsight is a wonderful thing, Harry. At that time, I felt that I was giving you a childhood by not burdening you with the prophecy." He paused.

" I know that the Dursleys are a necessary evil – and that you went through a lot during the last 11 years. So, when you came to Hogwarts, I felt overjoyed to see that you saw Hogwarts like a home to you. So, I felt that I at least owed you a normal life while you were at Hogwarts – thus I tried to give you some of the childhood that you missed at the Dursleys. I know now that it was an oversight on my part. I should have seen that no matter what I do, Voldemort is still there to torment you. I hope you will forgive an old man for his mistakes… I won't keep any more secrets from you – that I promise. Of course, some secrets may not concern you but anything related to you – I can and will tell you. I care for you a great deal, Harry – much more than any other person I know. You are like a grandson to me – and I hope that, at some point, you will think of me as a grandfather figure as well " confessed Dumbledore with an air of resignation.

Harry rushed out of his bed and enveloped Dumbledore in a tight hug. Even though he was six feet tall, his head barely came up to the old professor's chin. As he released Dumbledore, he looked grateful and contrite.

"I am so sorry for everything, Professor. I know that whatever you did – you did with my best intentions at heart. I am so honoured to know that such a great wizard like you thinks so much of me, I hope you can forgive me for my outburst in your office." He said this quickly as though afraid of how

"And I already think of you like a grandfather figure, Professor."

He added softly.

Dumbledore looked jubilant.

"Oh, think nothing of it, Harry. My office was getting crowded with a lot of useless items – you just saved me the trouble of getting rid of them" He beamed at Harry.

"Thanks" Harry grinned.

"Harry, how are you coping with Sirius?" Dumbledore asked tentatively.

Harry's grin vanished as soon as it came. A pained expression took his face – he looked away for a minute and then slowly said "I am not sure really – I miss him so much it hurts. I didn't know my parents – and he was the closest thing I have ever had to a real parent – and Voldemort takes him away too"

His jaw clenched "I HATE HIM," he said so coldly that a shiver passed through Dumbledore's spine.

"I feel so guilty. If only I had listened to you and Her… She was telling me too – she said it might be a trick – I didn't listen" He gave a cold laugh "Hah. When do I ever listen? You know she's right – I have a "saving people thing" and I don't know what to do about it."

He sighed loudly. Dumbledore placed an arm on his shoulder

"Harry, its ok to feel guilty. Believe me – what is more important is that if you get consumed by your guilt you will make Sirius's sacrifice in vain. He sacrificed his life for you; do you want to sit and mope around and wait for Voldemort to kill you or are you going to prepare for what is coming and take life head on. I will tell you this much, Harry. Sirius is not the first death you have faced – and it certainly won't be your last. If you handle this strongly – then you will be not only be more prepared for the next time – but also you'll enjoy your life more"

"But haven't I lost enough. I don't think I can stand losing another close person. You don't know how I felt when I saw Hermione take the curse from Dolohov." Tears rolling down his face, he continued, " I felt as though I couldn't move on. I mean I knew Sirius for a year but I know Ron and Hermione for more than five years – I don't think I can move on if one of them leaves me. Now, they are probably next on Voldemort's hit list just because they are my friends. I need them but if they stay my friends then Voldemort will target them. I don't know what to do anymore. Why does it have to be this bad? WHY?" Harry yelled frustratingly.

Dumbledore sighed and a sad look came over his eyes. "Harry, all the advice this old man can give you is –don't dwell on the past but learn from it. Protect your friends and don't push them away – they provide you the strength and the courage to move on. Promise me this, Harry: Promise me that you won't push your friends away."

"I don't want to put them in any danger though" After seeing the determined look in Dumbledore's eyes he sighed resignedly "Ok, I am going to give them a choice and if they foolishly accept to stay friends with me then I won't push them away – is that good?" He inquired.

"Yes, very. About the prophecy, I wanted to ask you – are you willing to be trained to defeat Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked in a serious tone.

"Yes. I am tired of running from him. I think I need training to at least give him a fight in a duel. I also meant to ask you this – what exactly is this power that I have that can defeat him? I know you said "Love" but how is love a power to defeat him. I mean I can barely escape every time I meet him. How do I catch up with his years and years of knowledge of magic?" Harry asked, running a hand through his hair.

"First, I want to tell you that I am not sure how "love" can be used to beat him. However, I am sure that love is the key to defeating him. The killing curse requires a huge amount of hatred to perform it – I am positive that you cannot perform the killing curse even if you tried your entire life. Its probably useless against Voldemort anyway since he has protected himself against the killing curse – this is why he believes he is immortal. You are an extremely powerful wizard, Harry, you will soon learn just how powerful you truly are when we start training." He continued

"However, until then I believe that we must search high and low for the key to defeating Voldemort – I suggest you take Ms. Granger's help for this assignment – she is quite resourceful." Dumbledore added with a smirk playing at his lips. Harry blushed – although he wasn't sure why, it just seemed like Dumbledore had caught him doing something naughty.

He just shrugged the strange feeling off and asked his headmaster

"So, who is going to teach me? What am I going to learn? How am I to play Quidditch, study for classes, and do homework?"– he asked Dumbledore one question after another in quick succession.

Dumbledore watched this barrage of questions with an amused expression.

"Is that all? Well, I will be teaching you most of your stuff. Remus and Alastor may help me in one or two of your exercises but mostly you will mostly learn from me. We cannot teach you how to become an Animagus legally"

"But, alas, these old eyes can't keep an eye on everyone of you children" He added with a wink.

"Your training with me will cover sorcery, enchantments, some advanced charms, occlumency, legilimency, and, my own area of expertise, white magic."

As Harry started to open his mouth, Dumbledore raised his hand. "I will tell you everything about those topics when the time comes. Until then I must ask you not to ask questions. We will begin the day after your sixteenth birthday, is that acceptable?"

But Harry appeared impatient to start his learning with the great wizard.

"Why wait till my birthday? I mean can't we start earlier than that. It'll give me more time to learn."

"Oh, you'll see. Just wait till your birthday – I think you'll be very surprised by your mother's gift" He mysteriously replied, his eyes twinkling away.

"Until your birthday, we'll go over some theory of magic – however, we'll save the practical stuff until then. I will try and come to visit you whenever I get a chance – I hope I can find time. As you know the Order is really busy nowadays, I will try and make time. " Dumbledore said getting off his seat.

"Yes, thanks a lot Professor. Talking with you about… Sirius really helped. Thanks"

said Harry in somewhat strained tone.

"Remember what I said about not letting the past consume you but rather let it guide you. Your guilt should not be a barrier for your life but rather it should help you not repeat mistakes. What is done is done; now all that remains to be seen is what is to be done. Until then, I have to get going. Ah yes, one more thing. You can tell Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley about your training but tell them to keep it a secret – we don't want to parade the information about your training around. All right then. It was nice talking to you, goodbye Harry."

He took out a rabbit's foot, muttered something, and was gone in a blink of an eye.

Harry fell back into his bed, smiling for the first time since coming back. "Well this will certainly be an interesting summer"

Dumbledore was now visiting him every two or three days. They talked for hours on end about everything – from the meaning of life to the theory behind magic. Harry found that he rather looked forward to these discussions with Dumbledore – they were always profound and he felt as if he were learning the lessons that Dumbledore himself learnt from his many experiences in life. He informed Hermione and Ron about his training in his letter. Dumbledore took the letters to them since owls were no longer safe.

He didn't receive any replies for a couple of weeks – so he was wondering what was happening. Finally, Dumbledore got some letters for them. He opened Hermione's letter first expecting her to be giddy about the whole thing - he wasn't disappointed.

"Dear Harry,

Oh my god! Are you really going to train with Dumbledore? I am soooooo jealous of you. But, you'll teach me everything you learn right? You better tell me everything – otherwise I'll hex you to next month. Everything is fine here. I got my O.W.L results today! I got 20 O.W.L's all O's except in Astronomy (in which I got an E – it really wasn't fair of them what with all the distractions during the exam). My parents are really proud. Sorry, for not sending you replies sooner – we were moving since my house is no longer safe. They are now at The Safe Place with me and the Weasleys.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We are coming to pick you up on your birthday – we asked Dumbledore and he said it was all right. So, see you then. I hope to see you soon – it's not any fun without you here.

I miss you loads.

Love,

Hermione"

Harry's mood brightened considerably after reading the letter. Well, that was certainly unexpected. I am going to leave this hellhole and meet Hermione and Ron. Yes…. He opened Ron's letter next:

"Hi Harry,

So, you are training with Dumbledore now huh? Good for you mate. I hope you can learn how to transfigure Malfoy into a ferret – that would be something, huh? Anyway, Hermione's here at the Safe Place as well. We are coming to pick you up on your birthday – isn't that great? I am so bored here without you. The only things that Hermione and Ginny talk about are how some guy is so hot – they won't even tell me the name of the guy. I think it's that damn Viktor Krum.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to ask you about something. I, um, was wondering if I should ask Hermione out. I had a secret crush on her since fourth year and now that she is here, I want to see if we will work out but I am dead scared. I hope you don't think that I am breaking the trio or anything by thinking about this – what do you think?

Don't write to me. Just tell me when we come to pick you up.

Bye,

Ron"

Harry was stunned. Ron has a crush on Hermione. Ron has a crush on her. He has a CRUSH on her.

Wow! He never showed any signs of a crush. I hope they don't ignore me if they do start going out. I hope for Ron's sake, Hermione accepts. They would be good for each other.

Harry couldn't wait until his birthday now.